So if I understand your question correctly, the workspace on your monitor has an offset downwards resulting in only a portion of the desktop being displayed? Does the resolution setting in Ubuntu match the one of your display (1440x900)? If not, make sure it is set correctly. How do you have your display connected? Analog/VGA/D-SUB cable or digitally (DVI/HDMI/DisplayPort)? If analog, have you tried recalibrating? (usually a button marked "auto" is present on your monitor)
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gertvdijkJun 26 '13 at 15:14

4 Answers
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Sometimes the monitor itself requires some vertical/horizontal alignment via the buttons on the monitor (if it is a separate monitor); often there is an auto adjust button also that should do that for you.

Otherwise if this is not the problem, could you go into the terminal (CTRL + ALT + T) and type xrandr then press enter, and post the output here, and also the contents of the file /etc/X11/xorg.conf to give an idea of the configuration of your displays.

Looks like you'll have to adjust the vertical image offset of your monitor.

Your monitor should have some control buttons with menu options like brightness, contrast and image control among others. Search for the buttons around the edges of your monitor case; in mine it's alongside the power button.